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Site Name: iHayley Graphic Designers
Owner: Hayley
Reviewed by: Georgina
Reviewed on: 9th April 2009
Site Name
It’s a rather odd name; a bit ordinary and nothing too interesting. It gives me the impression that your site has quite a few graphics to offer. Well, we shall see.
Coding and Validation
Your coding has 49 errors and 30 warnings.
Your CSS has 40 errors and 100 warnings.
Stupid Freewebs. Thinking they’re on HTML 4.01 Strict.
I won’t be reviewing your coding, Hayley. You did not make the layout yourself. It is a template and to review the coding would be an utter waste of time.
Browser Compatibility & Usability
Looking at your site at Browsershots.org, your layout is looking consistent in most browsers.
The width needs to be cut down; it’s not good for smaller resolutions.
The font size is easy to read – good stuff. The navigation is also obvious and clear – but you really, really do not need to surround them with asterisks (***).
Also, please spell review correctly. It is NOT reveiw.
Layout
Unfortunately I can’t say too much here. It seems you are simply using a Freewebs template to run your site. If you had read through my rules a bit more carefully – I wrote that the layout and coding must be made by you.
It obviously isn’t, so I can’t review this, and I can make no comment on your design/graphics skill. In future you should code and make your own layout.
Content
Your hit counter is really quite lame. I refreshed the page ten times. You know what that means? You just got ten hits that didn’t really matter at all. If you’re counting hits, you should be counting unique hits, so the hits won’t change whenever I refresh a page.
Updates
This is pretty much the homepage, so perhaps it would be better named as ‘home’.
Comments
This is a guestbook, really, so you’re better off calling it ‘Guestbook’. Also, the image/banner on this page is a bit too big. You don’t need something so big to introduce a guestbook.
Packages
Packages. I see you’re offering graphics. If so, some examples would make it better. You also need to define things like ‘doodle board’ and ‘water droplet’ – some people don’t know what on earth these things are.
I flipped through your guestbook messages and apparently you’re using a website to code layouts? If that is the case, then you should credit them, and I hope you have.
Also, you’re using a template for your own site, so why can’t you just make your own layout with that site?
Order
Fairly self explanatory. You don’t need to say “WE ARE NOT HACKERS”. Just say, “Your details will be kept private”.
Perhaps for this sort of thing you should also have a procedure or something that shows what happens after you order a package. Does it get emailed, etc.
Fun Stuff
Okay. This stuff is obviously fun. (I caught myself playing Pacman for twenty minutes when I realised I was supposed to be doing your review.)
But! A lot of these things start automatically. And while I was listening to my current beloved favourite band Anberlin, I found some hideous beeping and someone sounding like Miley Cyrus horribly mutilating my music!
So, what I suggest is that you put one the games on separate pages. One game on one page. Then link to these individual pages on the ‘fun stuff’ page. That way there won’t be so much crap on one page.
About
On this page there are a few errors:
do thing on her should be do things on her.
You say that you have no co-owners. Then why is your site called iHayley graphic designers? Err.. surely that means that there is more than one graphic designer (plural? S? Yes?)?
Apply
Apply? Apply for what? What, really? I wouldn’t know without clicking it. Surely you could think of a better name for this form? Perhaps change this to a contact or request form?
Contact
Pretty self explanatory.
Links
You appear to use an application or script for this page. Which is totally fine, so long as it’s managed well and the page is organised.
Thank you very much for linking me. I know it is a requirement, but to be honest, I am impressed by this page as I’ve never seen a links page organised in such a nice way.
Sample Graphics
None of these are really that appealing. They all look pixelated or badly coloured. The animations aren’t good; in fact they are very annoying and distracting and hurt my eyes.
The slideshow is horribly pixelated. The graphics don’t show any skill and I don’t see why you can’t show a coded layout. You need to improve on graphics, clearly.
Get Reviewed
Self explanatory.
Reviewed Sites
Self explanatory.
Contests
Would you want your banner to say:
iHayley Graphic Designers: Be Amazing. Be Unque. Be You.
Be Unque. Wow, what’s unque? Is this some new feminism or patriarchial movement I have not yet heard of?
Polls
Honestly.. I don’t know what darned ‘article’ you’re on about, but care to explain what article it is, rather than addressing it simply as ‘the article’? I mean really – what article? The one about the dead man found on the road yesterday? The one in the newspaper last week? The one in the telegram in 1854?
Book club
Great book club.. I thought this would be some sort of club where members can join. Clearly just another poll.
Originality & Creativity
I can’t make too much comment here. There wasn’t much to put points on.
You lack any sort of credits page. You need to credit where you got the “fun stuff” from, as well as your host and anything else you used – programs, etc.
Organisation & Errors
Fairly well organised. Just a few errors.
Overall Comment
Hayley, you have a well-organised site, however, you should really try having a go at making your own layouts. I know and understand this might be quite hard. But even something simple would do. Even finding a premade layout, and looking at the coding to see how things work, so you can make your own.
Additionally, you need to learn some proper coding! Draac.com and TutorialTastic are good places to start. I also have some HTML tutorials on my site. Though they might not let you make a layout straight away, they will most certainly help with basic coding.
Of course, a lot of people and companies who own websites actually hire people to make their website for them. Therefore it is alright for you to be using templates, but it is more original, and you can get more creative, if you actually make your own.
I can see effort in your site, but I don’t see much potential. You really need to make your own graphics, get something nice together. I didn’t see many interesting things on your site.
I suggest trying to improve your graphics, and learning some proper coding. These are essential foundations for webdesign.
Good try. I hope this review helped you. For you to be successful in the webdesigning field, you must code and design yourself. Best of luck.
